1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a suspended perch for a domestic bird, and more particularly, to a suspended perch with a feeding cup attached thereto by means of a quick release mechanism.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Owners of pet birds, such as parrots, should provide various types of perches, external to a cage, for indoor use and exercise by the bird. The perches should ideally imitate a natural setting for the bird, to the extent possible, and may be fabricated from nontoxic natural and nontoxic artificial materials, with hardwood trees being quite popular. The manzanita tree, which grows at high elevations in Arizona and California, provides materials which are especially suitable for this application. Small branches of the manzanita tree are commercially supplied for use within cages, and entire trees, except for leaves and roots, are supplied mounted to bases for upright use standing on the floor. In these applications, a particularly hard surface, like that of the manzanita tree, is preferred, because many birds tend to destroy the surfaces of relatively soft woods by pecking. The use of a hard wood surface provides a significant advantage over other materials, such as smooth plastics, since the bird can more easily hold onto the perch, and is thus less likely to tire.
A particular disadvantage of using a manzanita tree as it is supplied in the upright configuration is that the trunk and major branches are more vertical than horizontal. Perching birds, on the other hand, better utilize surfaces which are more horizontal on which to stand, walk and climb. A tree, placed in the conventional position with the trunk being vertical, and having horizontal attached branches sufficiently long to satisfy the needs of the perching bird would be much too large to fit inside a person's home. Advertisements from different companies in Bird Talk magazine, March 1992, page 138, and April, 1992, page 79, show manzanita trees, attached to stands to become upright floor standing bird perches offered for sale. The pictures of these advertisements clearly show that most of the surfaces of the trees are substantially more vertical than horizontal, which indicates the need to add horizontal branches to achieve a more mobile area.
Another disadvantage of standing trees used as perches is that many domestic birds whose wings are clipped will climb down the trunk to the floor. A bird that has climbed down form the perch may be in serious danger of being stepped upon, of chewing on an electric cord, of being attacked by another household pet, or of doing damage to furniture or other possessions of the owner. Thus, all domestic birds on conventional open perches must be supervised at all times.
Another common problem faced by the owners of domestic birds is the conventional cups used to feed the birds. Typical feeding and watering cups, generally made of stainless steel or other metals with a lead free power coat finish, or of a hard plastic coating, are provided with internally threaded bosses descending centrally from their lower surfaces to engage externally threaded bolts. Such bolts may be, in turn, used to fasten the cups, for example, to perches inside cages or on an external perch. A food or water cup should be removed every day for refilling and additionally for cleaning in order to prevent serious illnesses of the bird due to bacteria. The feeding and watering cups are removed and re-attached by unscrewing or screwing the boss into or from the threaded bolt. One problem with the attachment of cups by the conventional method is the time required for removal and re-attachment by screwing the cup off and on. This problem is particularly serious because some birds can be especially territorial concerning their food cup; many birds, even when tame, repeatedly peck any hand being used to remove this device. Another problem is that some bird have the capability of unscrewing a conventional cup unless it is tightly secured, thereby causing unnecessary spillage. A tightly secured cup, in turn, increases the time and difficulty to remove the cup, thereby permitting the bird additional time to peck at the owner.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,026,244, issued to Salick on May 31, 1977, describes a feeder for outdoor birds, which is fastened, for example, under the limb of a tree by a cord. The feed is placed in a plastic bag which is pierced by a pair of pointed sticks extending therethrough to provide perching surfaces. A feeding hole is also pierced above each such perch. A disk shaped baffle is placed on the cord above the feeder to prevent animals, such as squirrels, from climbing down the rope, or from jumping from an adjacent tree limb, to reach the feeder. While this type of baffle could also be used in the application of the present invention, i.e. to prevent a domestic bird, such as a parrot, from climbing upward from a suspended perch, its use in this way would present a disadvantage of requiring a very large diameter baffle to keep the bird from stretching from the member used to suspend the perch to an edge of the baffle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,546, issued to Latham on Jan. 18, 1985, describes the use of a flexible covering sheet above the top of a bird feeder, again to keep squirrels from reaching the feeder. This sheet is fastened rigidly to a rod with hooked ends, by which the feeder is hung in place. The material of the sheet, which is in the form of a circular disk, is so flexible that the weight of a squirrel trying to climb across and around it will deflect the sheet downward, causing the squirrel to slide downward and fall off. While this type of baffle could also be used in the application of the present invention, its use in this way might allow injury to occur to a bird falling off after climbing fully or partly onto the baffle, and it may otherwise be ineffective because the weight of many domestic birds would be insufficient to cause the desired baffle deflection.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,384, issued to Courteau on Dec. 9, 1986, describes a floor standing artificial bird tree for exercising the anatomical features of domestic birds and for removably collecting food and bird droppings. In Courteau, a vertical support member has attached thereto a plurality of relatively short perch members and a platform with ridges to maintain food, toys, and droppings in place. The perch members have a plurality of diameter dimensions to provide a bird with means to exercise its leg muscles, with elongated perch members preferably being wood dowels having a diameter range of 1/16 to 2 inches. The upright support and platform members are also preferably wood to provide domestic bird species with chewing and clawing members.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,480, issued to Goldman et al on May 28, 1991, describes a simulated tree branch, made of thermoplastic material, which may be clamped to a side of a bird cage, extending inward therefrom to form a perch. The size of the Goldman et al simulated branch is limited by the size of the bird cage and thus, is generally relatively small relative to the needs of the bird to exercise.